Against Minnesota, Cleveland struggled to sustain drives, going 3 for 15 on third down conversions. However, on their three scoring drives, Gabriel managed the offense and helped them move down the field whether a run or pass was called. On both touchdowns, throwing from the 1- and 9-yard line, he turned to his big tight ends to make the plays.
His use of tight ends in the red zone was emblematic of his first start. Against Minnesota, TE [David Njoku](/team/players-roster/david-njoku/) led the Browns with six receptions and 67 receiving yards, and TE [Harold Fannin Jr.](/team/players-roster/harold-fannin-jr/) was second in receptions with four.
In Pittsburgh, Gabriel will be going against a crowd that is actively booing him and making life hard for him, forcing him to run the offense through the noise. Some of the pressure he will face from players like linebackers T.J. Watt or Patrick Queen may also make him to get the ball out early, making his chemistry with the pass catchers ever more important.
"Sustainability. We always talk about it, you want to be efficient and sustain drives," Gabriel said. "But it is hard to score points, of course, but that's our job. We have to find ways to do that and do it at a higher clip. But small gains, we're building and have to continue to do that. We'd love to score every single drive, obviously, but I think that's us learning to sustain drives together. And you watch the film back, there are a lot of times we can help ourselves make more competitive plays and it starts with me for sure."